Why Aren’t Electric Vehicles on Indian Roads? Re-examining Acceptance of Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) in India

The study reassesses Indian consumers’ acceptance of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) using an extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). A survey of 162 qualified respondents who had test-driven an EV was analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). Five out of six hypotheses were supported: Perceived Usefulness (PU), Social Status (SS), Perceived Enjoyment (PE), and Perceived Risk (PR, negative) significantly influenced Behavioral Intention (BI), while Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU) was insignificant. BI strongly predicted stated purchase. Reinterpreting these results in the 2025 context, India has seen EV sales accelerate—electric cars crossed ~4% of the market in May 2025—with more than 25,000 public chargers, and new incentives under PM E-DRIVE following FAME-II. Findings emphasize that PU and SS remain the most critical adoption drivers, while risk perceptions around cost, charging, and safety remain barriers. Policy and managerial implications highlight the importance of enhancing charging visibility, reducing range anxiety, positioning BEVs as green and aspirational products, and strengthening after-sales support. This study contributes by extending TAM with hedonic, risk, and social image constructs in an emerging market, while providing a benchmark against which India’s evolving EV ecosystem can be compared